TECHNIQUE FOR ANALYZING THE THERMAL AND UPLIFT HISTORIES OF ERODING OROGENIC BELTS: A SCANDINAVIAN EXAMPLE.

Geothermometric and geobarometric data from pelitic schists in the upper plate of the Forsa thrust in the northern Norwegian Caledonides are interpreted as recording part of the uplift trajectory of this area during erosion and slow cooling. A method developed in this paper for reconstructing the thermal history of orogenic belts from such data is based on a general mathematical description of thermal conduction in a lithospheric slab with an arbitrary initial temperature distribution and uplifted at a constant rate. With certain restrictions the uplift trajectory (Tz path) of any rock parcel can be calculated from only a few temperature-depth points along that uplift trajectory.